Nov.7 On Writing Well（Ch10）

在写笔记前讲一下今天翻了一下的《on writing》中文版，这本书是通过群上一位同学得知的，今天特意去图书馆借回来看。私以为不仅村上春树可以和Zinsser做好朋友，Stephen king也可以。希望未来我也能通过听原版书audio就能了解这本书，好佩服那位小伙伴。这本书中Stephen king直言写作就是心灵感应，这和Zinsser所说的subconscious mind相同。而成为一个作家的方法就是多读多写，副词要谨慎使用，将读者放在心上，而他每天都要写作不管生日圣诞节之类的。因为他一不写作就难受。还言好的描写始于所见清晰，终于落笔明晰，意象清新，词汇简单，这些都和Zinsser写得有异曲同工之妙。

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PART ONE VOCABULARY

1.sparingly. 

But again, it should be used sparingly.

sparingly：using or doing only a little of something

sparing：careful to use or give only a little of sth

e.g.we must be spraing with our resources

2.vexing

One of the most vexing new questions for writers is what to do about sexist language, especially the “he-she” pronoun.

vexing:to make someone feel annoyed or worried

之前我们学了一个irked和这个词很像

3.clog

To turn every “he” into a “he or she,” and every “his” into a “his or her,” would clog the language.

clog：to block something or become blocked

之前我们文章也出现过block堵塞这个词，clog是它的同义词。还有一个意思是木屐鞋

4.nudge

Over the years, however, many women wrote to nudge me about this.

nudge有好几种意思

1.to push someone gently, usually with your elbow, in order to get their attention用肘轻推以引起注意，在这里应该是读者让作者引起注意

2.to move something or someone a short  distance by gently pushing轻推移动

5.erase

Countless sins can be erased by such small changes.

erase：to get rid of something so that it has gone completely and no longer exists。这个单词好几种意思，有从电脑上消除记忆，有抹掉笔迹，这里是彻底消除

e.g.our dream is to erase poverty and injustice from the world.

6.tinkering

The point is that clear writing is the result of a lot of tinkering.

tinkering:to make small changes to something in order to repair it or make it work better修理

7.ragged

But it’s full of ragged edges: failures of the writer to keep the reader notified of changes in time, place and mood, or to vary and animate the style.

ragged：(alsoraggedy)having a rough uneven edgeor surface不规则

8.humdrum

I like to replace a humdrum word with one that has more precision or color.

humdrum：boring and ordinary, and having no variety or interes单调而乏味

9.fatigue

Bradley’s book is also an excellent travel journal, catching the fatigue and loneliness of the professional athlete’s nomadic life—the countless night flights and bus rides,

不可数名词，等于exhausted，表示very great tiredness

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part two thoughts

Writing is like a good watch—it should run smoothly and have no extra parts.

一开始Zinsser说到为了避免性别歧视，尤其是近来女权运动。甚至读者写信告诉他建议使用比较通用的词。比如大家这种，在写建议类的书的时候可以用“you”。的确英文里面主席之类的词都是以man组合的。这让我想起以前中文是没有女字旁的“她，到了二十世纪女权运动才有这个读音。中国以前没有区分男女代词的传统。白话文兴起后男字旁的他代指男女性。直到新文化运动彻底扫除了封建，第一次提出了女性的她，虽遭到保守派阻挠，但是立刻被广泛使用，这何其不是女性的地位提高？一篇好的文章必定是千锤百炼，Zinsser谈到自己修改文章数遍，而他很享受rewirte的过程甚至觉得自己好像赢了游戏般。用电脑打字这个我能够理解作者说节约时间，减少耗费的精力。但就自己而言，我更喜欢手写，我喜欢纸质的熏香，每一笔手写渗透了作者的情感。要相信你写的材料，话点到为止。最重要是写作跟随自己的兴趣，爱写什么写什么的。比如汪曾祺的《端午的鸭蛋》，汪曾祺尤其爱吃，他本身是高邮人，描写了家乡高邮的风俗和特产鸭蛋，令人垂涎三尺。